Articles | Volume 19, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-1515-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
All-in-one: validation and versatile applications of a novel chemical ionization mass spectrometer for simultaneous measurements of volatile organic and inorganic compounds
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- Final revised paper (published on 02 Mar 2026)
- Supplement to the final revised paper
- Preprint (discussion started on 22 Sep 2025)
- Supplement to the preprint
Interactive discussion
Status: closed
Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor
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RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2025-4515', Anonymous Referee #1, 07 Oct 2025
- AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Tianhao Ding, 10 Dec 2025
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RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2025-4515', Anonymous Referee #2, 09 Oct 2025
- AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Tianhao Ding, 10 Dec 2025
Peer review completion
AR – Author's response | RR – Referee report | ED – Editor decision | EF – Editorial file upload
AR by Tianhao Ding on behalf of the Authors (10 Dec 2025)
Author's response
Manuscript
EF by Katja Gänger (19 Jan 2026)
Author's tracked changes
ED: Publish as is (20 Jan 2026) by Haichao Wang
AR by Tianhao Ding on behalf of the Authors (04 Feb 2026)
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and volatile inorganic compounds (VICs) are important target analytes, both in an environmental context and industrial process control. The simultaneous analysis of both compound groups with a high temporal resolution and sensitivity is still challenging. To overcome this challenge, the authors introduce the novel Vocus B Chemical Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer. This instrument can serve as an “all-in-one” solution, quasi-simultaneously targeting both compound groups by rapidly switching between multiple reagent ions and polarities.
The manuscript is well-structured and easy to understand. It is also written in clear, appropriate English. The authors provide a comprehensive description of the Vocus B’s performance in controlled laboratory tests and three relevant real-world applications. The use cases are well-chosen and presented, demonstrating the device’s versatility and usefulness in air pollution research and industrial applications. The results are presented logically and comprehensively, and the advantages over other established measuring devices are clearly highlighted. I therefore favor publishing this manuscript in Atmospheric Measurement Techniques after minor revisions.
Minor comments:
Line 157: “…, and various aromatics (chlorobenzene, styrene, etc.)” - Styrene and other aromatics are shown in Figure S1. The only (hetero)aromatics in Figure 1 are chlorobenzene and pyridine.
Figure 1: I suggest adding the plots for toluene and/or o-xylene (representing the BTEX compound group) and α-pinene (representing a major forest VOC) from Figure S1 in the main manuscript. There appears to be sufficient space for three additional plots in the current layout. This would emphasize the relevance and suitability of the proposed instrument for environmental research and enhance transparency by including examples with lower, yet still satisfactory linearity.
Lines 196 – 201: Since the calibration curves for ethylamine and dimethylamine are quite distinct, how would you calculate and report the sum of C2-amines? And how does this improve the quantification of an unknown mixture of both analytes?
Figure 4: Were the other VOCs also measured with the Vocus Elf PTR-TOF-MS? If so, did you also observe good agreement with the Vocus B data?
Figure 6: As you stated in lines 173-175, the calibration of highly corrosive, acidic gases is technically challenging. How robust are the results for HF, HCl and SO2 in this use case? Especially the signals for SO2 and HCl seem to show a comparably high fluctuation or noise.
Technical comments:
Line 56: “… (PTR-MS) are highly effective …”
Lines 158-168: I suggest to add the reference to Figure S1 here, since the calibration curves of aromatics are presented there.